


Thinking of mountains, Thinking of you

by quietstingray



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, Hiking, M/M, Mountains, Travel, hints of past abuse, humanstuck probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 19:09:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8069266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietstingray/pseuds/quietstingray
Summary: It's strange the way even the most remote places can feel like home when I'm with him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> quick thing i wrote on my trip to austria this summer

We arrived late in the day, later than we'd planned, not that it mattered much. It was mostly due to Karkat forgetting his backpack at the airport so we had to jump off at the next bus stop, dragging all our luggage back and search. It was gone, jacket and camera and his writing block with it. I keep telling him to just write on his phone or whatever if he gets a flash of inspiration on the go, but maybe that’s just not his cup of tea.

We managed to miss the train even with Karkat’s angry yelling fueling our sprint from the bus. I made him come with me to the bookstore instead and guess the genres by pulling up random sections of the books. They were mostly criminal fiction but he bought one anyway since he'd lost the romance novel he was reading. We ended up having to run again so we didn’t miss the next train too.

The landscape was beautiful from the window next to our seats. Even more so once we stepped out to the platform in the small town we'd be staying in, wedged into the valley between two mountain chains. I took way too many pictures during the descent to our hotel. Pictures of the mountains, the clouds, the houses, of Karkat. Karkat looking out across the valley, Karkat carefully studying the map with a frown, Karkat stopping in the middle of the street to pet a cat. He took my suitcase after I'd left in a particularly steep part of the road and it almost rolled away.

We fell asleep almost as soon as we crashed into our room. A tangled mess on the bed, not bothering to unpack our bags.

I woke up to his voice loudly describing his bag over the phone, presumably to the airports lost and found. He made a few more calls while I got up and made us tea, sitting down beside him in the sofa, our legs touching.

We went on a stroll through the town, eating brunch at a café beside the waterfall crashing down through the town center. It passed under the main road, beside the closed down conference facility, falling two hundred metres down all in all. The sound carried all the way to our hotel, echoing off the cliffs, blending into the music of the town.

We went back up towards the train station, hitting the best sports stores on the way to grab some new gear for Karkat. He let me know what a bad second opinion I was, but got one of the jackets I picked out for him anyway. We continued to the food store and picked out a whole lot of snacks and candy for the road, returning home in time to chill out for the rest of the day.

 

The second day we threw on our backpacks, Karkat struggling at first to adjust the straps on his new one. We decided to start off easy with a walk through the valley, following the river with the mountains towering above us. We cut through a small village after some hour or so, crossing the river and starting towards the mountain on the other side of the valley. It was quiet, almost eerie, just a few other hikers around. We stopped briefly for a coffee at a small café just before the path cut up through the forest on the hillside.

Maybe I complained a little on the way up, noticing the annoyance in Karkat’s quickening steps, furrowing brow. He stopped after a while to pull me in by the belt loops of the ugly hiking pants Rose gave me that I only wore ironically to get back at her, biting my lip to shut me up.

A light rain was falling from the sky, catching on the leaves of the trees, joining the water finding its way through the undergrowth beside the road. We went side by side on the narrow path, with him reading aloud from his little guide book every now and then while shielding it from the rain with his arm. I caught him more than once when he slipped and almost fell, barely seeming to register it. Does he really trust me that much?

He was going on about the history of the place, the landmarks, the little bird feeding houses that were put up beside road. I guess I could have given more of a fuck, but that wasn't what interested me about this trip. I was there because of Karkat, because it was beautiful, because I could kiss him in front of waterfalls and stuff.

On our way down again we missed the path leading up to a perfect view of one of the mentioned waterfalls, only noticing it through the large dam that was built to keep the floods at bay during spring. He must have seen me finger longingly at my camera cause he sighed and turned back up the road.

"Kat, we don't have to..."

"You would regret it, Dave. You'd regret it and you'd never shut up about it."

So we made our way back, and I got a ton of pictures from just the right angle. Most of them ended up being of him though, as I realized when I scrolled past them when we got home. Maybe I'm like, in love or something.

 

We went out for dinner that night, to some semi fancy restaurant hidden away in the basement of the house just across the street from our hotel. The style was old, but with a touch of modern technology. The framed pictures were given motion by projectors and we were handed ipads with the menu. We had to wait forever for the food, but it was definitely worth it. Halfway through the meal I found the game section of their app. Naturally we ended up fighting for control over Healthy Candy Crush, fruits and all, and Help the Water Droplet Find His Way to Whatever That Weird Platform Is, alien abduction portal? We'll never know.

 

We took the gondola up the next morning, all the way up to the top. We could see the mountains all around us, and I let Karkat talk me into walking across the bridge hanging between a viewpoint and the gondola station. I'm a little scared of heights, but he made sure to hold my hand all the way so it was ...fine, actually.

Turns out walking down was just as hard as walking up, feet falling heavily to the ground with each step, taking its toll on my knees and feet. I could see Karkat enjoying it though, the well trained little shit. There were no trees here, only grass and rocks and an immense view over the valley. We stopped to add stones to the rock piles we passed. It was supposed to bring luck, Karkat said.

My feet started to hurt halfway down so we stopped at a big rock beside the road, pulling up chocolate crackers and dried apricots. I told him to close his eyes while I ran around picking flowers in the tall grass.

He laughed when I gave them to him, but I know how he's into that sappy shit. He picked one and put it in my hair.

We passed a flock of horses as we neared our lunch stop at a small ranch restaurant. The things are really unnerving to me but Katkat stepped right up to one, hand stretched out. Seeing my sceptical glance he called me over.

"I don't know man, horses are a bad fucking omen."

"Bullshit, wait what the hell does this shitstain think it’s doing?!"

Yeah, told him so. The beast almost fucking bit him. I proceed to grab his arm and abscond the fuck out of there.

After a well earned lunch at the ranch we kept going down the mountain. The music of cow bells followed us as we went down to cross the treeline again. I snapped a shot of the herding dog staring down a stray cow until she went back to the rest.

A shower welcomed us when we got home. The water was cold at first, probably due to the height it had to pumped up to, so we climbed in together, standing close to trap the heat between us as the icy water cleaned away the dust from the day. He hooked his head under my chin and traced circles across my back as I pulled him into my arms and we stood still like that, waiting for the water to warm up around us before we made a mess of each other's hair with shampoo.

At night a storm blew through the valley, all rain and thunder that had me pulling softly at Karkat’s shirt. I wasn't really afraid, but it was as good an excuse as any to feel his arms around me, his hands in my hair, and I fell asleep to the soft patter of raindrops against the window.

 

I was tired the next morning, groaning into the pillow and pulling the covers over my head. Karkat was relentless though, helping me with the packing and dragging my ass to breakfast. We got to the lift just in time for the first round of people being let up onto the mountain opposite to the one we were on yesterday. This lift was much unlike the gondola, just a two person seat with a restraining bar, hanging right there in the air without the safety of walls. I clutched my backpack tightly to my chest and squeezed Karkat’s hand every time it passed a pole and started swinging.

The ride was long and dreadful but we arrived safely at the top. Or, some 200 meters below the top. The goal of the day was to reach said top. The walk was the shortest so far, but also the steepest. I was grateful for the walking poles we'd bought before the trip, adding the strength of my arms to that of my legs. It still drained me more than I was ready for, swiped the energy from under my feet and pulled at the weight of my backpack. Maybe it wasn't the best day, I was too tired, too weak. It reminded me of ...things I'd rather not think about. I had to stop several times to catch my breath, ease the weight on my shoulders and the fire in my legs.

When we were past the halfway mark Karkat waited for me to stop just below him. He used his taller position to pull me in, place a kiss on my forehead the way usually only I can do.

"We can rest tomorrow, okay?"

He said it softly, but matter-of-factly, and it gave me the energy to climb the rest of the way.

The thorough weariness of my body still shocked me when I sank down at one of the tables at the top, and tears stung my eyes as Karkat made me drink and pulled up the mix of raisins and almonds he'd made that morning. It made me feel a little better.

Once my breathing slowed I could inspect our surroundings. There was a memorial put up, a stone wall with the names of the local people that had been lost to ww2. A beautiful place for one, I suppose.

The view was breathtaking. In one direction we could see the valley, and past it the mountain from yesterday. Two gliders had just been released from its top, circling their way out over the valley. The other direction was even more beautiful, mountains that had been obscured from our view before now towered above us, so high there was snow covering their tops. Just behind the memorial the ground gave way to a great gap, filled with pine trees and a lake glittering in the sunlight. It made me think of Karkat, the way I couldn't take my eyes of it.

The descent was easier, but it was still a relief when we found a seat at the restaurant just by the lift. Eating in silence, the sun hitting my back, made me feel so at peace. It's strange the way even the most remote places can feel like home when I'm with him.

 

The next morning I woke up before him for once, now that no alarm had been put on to pull him from his slumber too early. I’ve always been the heavier sleeper. But now my eyes fluttered up to the light slipping in from behind the curtains, the sound of his breaths beside me. I turned around to face him, careful not to make too much noise. Peaceful, quiet, soft. I studied the relaxed lines of his face, the messy flop of hair spread out over the pillow, the slightly parted lips.

Maybe he heard me after all, because he stirred awake under my gaze, sighing at the ceiling before meeting my eyes. He smiled then, tired and genuine, and it made me smile right back. When he made a move to leave the bed I threw my arms around his waist and pulled him back.

“Stay,” I murmured into his neck. He laughed but obliged.

And so we stayed there most of the day, tangled up in blankets watching cooking shows on the hotel tv, coming up with terrible names for all the dishes. When my stomach started complaining too loudly he shooed me out of bed and we went out to eat. He forgot his jacket at the hotel, so when it was raining by the time we left I put my arm around his back and threw my jacket over the both of us, pulling him along and we ran, laughing through the rain.

 

On the last day we took the bus higher up in the valley, through a bunch of tunnels leaving us with no view as we wound our way to higher ground. I always found his face to be my favorite scenery anyway. The walk was beautiful as ever, mountains high and waterfalls everywhere. I insisted on kissing him in front of every one of them and he went along with it, only complaining a little bit.

He was the one to kiss me by the biggest one though, the one where the road started turning back, and I didn’t have the heart to call him out on whining before. Deep and soft and lingering, like his hand in my hair, his breath in my mouth.

And we walked, hand in hand, the most natural thing. Sharing warm glances and drinking from each other’s water bottles.

The path was littered with small rocks, light and layered sort of like bark, but hard, reflecting the sunlight making them glitter as I turned them around in my hand. I found one that reminded me of Karkat, small with sharp edges and smooth sides, and gave it to him. Then another. And then some more, until he refused them, saying his pockets were getting heavy.

It felt good, knowing we’d bring some of this with us. Pieces of the mountains, solid in contrast to memories that could so easily fade.

**Author's Note:**

> http://quietstingray.tumblr.com/


End file.
